La Noche Vieja viene ya

Dear family!
It was great to talk on the phone with you. I think next time I will
get you to call a members house phone or something, because the cell
phone just does not cut it. It´s alright though. I was a little
stressed, as you could probably notice, because my companions parents
kept calling, and I didn´t want to be rude and stay on the phone
forever, but it was still really good to talk to you. Everyone seems
like they´re growing up and everything!
So this past week was definitely a slower week for us. My companion
has not been feeling well and as missionaries we do absolutely
everything together, so he´s been resting a lot. We only taught 8
lessons this past week, and we´re supposed to be teaching 20 easily.
It´s alright though, I hope he gets better soon.
One cool story that we just had this past week. We were knocking a
building, and we knocked a door, and this indian kid came and knocked
on the door, and I could tell that he was a little slower. I tried
talking to him really slow in Spanish, but he wasn´t communicating
with me. I asked where his parents were, and he ran back and got his
dad, and his dad was this indian man with a huge beard and mustache
and turban, and he came, and started speaking really broken spanish.
We found out that he speaks english a little better than spanish, so
we talked english with him. We found out that he was Sikh, or however
you spell it. His name is Sing, and he invited us over a little later
on, and we went over, and shared how God is our loving Heavenly Father
and how he has a body of glorified and perfected flesh and bones. It
was hard for him to accept that, or to grasp that concept. He kept
telling us that God can walk without legs and see without eyes and
hear without ears. It was really a waking up moment for my companion.
We realized that there are a lot of people in the world that don´t
realize the true nature of God. We know God as our loving Heavenly
Father, who does everything He does because He loves us. I can´t tell
you how many people we talk to on the street and are quite rude and
ask us what we´re doing here, when we should be in Africa. They say,
"If there is a God, then why does he let those kids starve in Africa?"
My companion and I have come to realize that people do not understand
agency and how it plays into the plan of salvation. What they really
don´t understand is just the plan of salvation. We have agency, and
we can use it for good and for bad. Agency is the ability to act for
ourselves. What we try to teach people is that the agency we have
affects others, and the agency others have affect us. God cannot take
away our agency, that is not part of the plan. So we have these
wicked people who use their agency to do bad, and as a result, people
suffer. The good thing is, is that we know that this life is just a
blink of an eye in our eternal design. I love having Elder Bodily as
a companion, because we like to talk deep doctrine together. He
doesn´t believe much of what I say, because he likes to have sources
for things, so it´s been really good because I learn to find stuff out
for myself in the scriptures and in talks, rather than just take
things as I hear them.
So this past week we also had a Christmas conference with our Mission
President and his wife, and missionaries from Barcelona, Hospitalet,
Lleida, and the Islands. There were about 40 or 50 missionaries
there, and it´s always a thrill to sing Called to Serve when you´re
all together. They showed a slideshow of Christ and Christmas, and
also a slideshow of the mission from the past year. There was a
picture of me contacting a man on there when I first got in the
mission. Too funny. They also showed pictures of missionaries going
home. All of my companions will be home by June of this year. That´s
so weird! I´m still a young missionary, but I feel older. I feel
that I have matured and grown a lot on my mission. It´s really great.
A mission really is the greatest thing. At times, you wonder how in
the world you´re going to make it, but it is all so worth it when you
see someone come a little closer to Christ and feel of His redeeming
love. All the no´s are forgotten, all of the people who chastise, all
of the long hours in the street. All of that is so worth it, and it
actually becomes enjoyable to do all of that because you know that you
are just that much closer to fufilling your puprose and "Inviting
people to come unto Christ by helping them receive the Restored
Gospel."
So I shared all of the little gifts that I had, and kids loved them!
I got hugged by little Gustavo, and a kiss on the cheek by little
Rubí. I got a picture with both of them, and they are too cute. I
understand what Christ said when he said that we need to become like
children. They are so sweet and so pure. It was great sharing the
Christmas spirit with kids. This Christmas was especially wonderful,
because it was in the mission field. The hymns meant more to me,
reading Luke 2 meant more to me, listening to Mo Tab meant more to me,
and eating with members and talking about Christ meant more to me. I
had a splendid time this Christmas here in Hospitalet. It seems like
a dream that we talked two days ago. It really does, like it barely
happened or something. I love the companions that I´m staying with.
We all get along really well, and even though we have our differences,
we´re all united in the trying to fufill our purpose and being the
best missionaries we can be. I told Gabbi that she needs to serve a
mission, and I mean it!
One silly thing we did, is that we took a picture of all four of us in
front of a door covering that someone got in a package that says Merry
Christmas, and we delivered it to all of the members. We wrote notes
on the back, and went by peoples houses and gave it to them and told
them that it was a picture of "cuatro de los hombres más guapos que
hay en todo de España." People would go nuts, especially the sisters
here. It´s too funny.
Well, I gotta get going. Canada sounds like it´s a blast. Thanks for all the Christmas packages, and thanks
to everyone that sent letters and packages! I really appreciate it!
The support is great. Much love, keep being great.
Hasta luego!
Elder Pericle